Dense and environment friendly bismuth barium telluroborate glasses for nuclear protection applications. (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Al-Buriahi, M.S.; Olarinoye, I.O.; Alomairy, Sultan; Kebaili, Imen; Kaya, Rumeysa; Arslan, Halil; Tonguc, Baris T.
• Is Part Of: Progress in nuclear energy. Volume 137(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: Telluroborate glass -- Shielding -- Nuclear radiation -- Er2O3 additive -- GEANT4; Nuclear energy -- Periodicals; Nuclear engineering -- Periodicals; 333.7924
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103763
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-1970

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, four samples of bismuth barium telluroborate glasses in the chemical composition of 20Bi2 O3 + 30BaO + xEr2 O3 + (30 – x)B2 O3 + 20TeO2, here x is between 0.05 and 2 mol%) coded as BTBE1, BTBE2, BTBE3, and BTBE4 are reported for potential use in nuclear shielding applications. Geant4 simulations were well designed to obtain the mass attenuation coefficient, μ/ρ for the BTBE1 – BTBE4 specimens at 356 keV–2.51 MeV photon energies. Then, the obtained results are confirmed by using WinXCOM platform. The μ/ρ values were used to assess the nuclear shielding capacity of BTBE1 – BTBE4 specimens in terms of effective atomic number, Zeff, mean free path, MFP, and half-value layer, HVL. Additionally, the buildup factors of BTBE1 – BTBE4 specimens were computed via G-P fitting method at 0.015–15 MeV photon energies and up to 40 mfp (penetration depths). Also, the neutron shielding capacity of the glasses was assessed by calculating the removal cross sections (∑R ). Our results indicate that there is a remarkable enhancement in the gamma shielding features by adding Er2 O3 content in the BTBE1 – BTBE4 specimens. It is found that BTBE4 and BTBE3 glass specimens have high shielding quality against nuclear radiation. Gamma-rays and fast neutrons shielding parameters of the BTBE1 – BTBE4 specimens are compared with several commercial and traditional shielding materials. These comparisons concluded that the reported glasses are quite useful for radiation protection purposes. Graphical abstract: Variation of HVL of BTBE1, BTBE2, BTBE3 and BTBE4 glasses with chemical composition along with comparison to other glasses containing PbO (solid lines) at 662 keV for Te5 glass and at 1173 keV for Ge5 glass. Image 1 Highlights: Bismuth barium telluroborate glasses doped with Er2O3 were reported. Good agreement between Geant4 simulation and theoretical calculations. The maximum HVL was observed at 2.51 MeV. BTBE4 glass is recommended for radiation protection applications.